


History Lesson

by elorrainem



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Finn Needs A Hug, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Poe Teaches Finn Things, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8943184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elorrainem/pseuds/elorrainem
Summary: Finn has woken up and is now conscious for more than a few hours per day. Doctor Kalonia has approved cessation of sedation and his physical therapy regimen has intensified. He wonders aloud to Poe in a moment of frustration if it was all worth it, and if he really made a difference by defecting. Poe assures him he did with a history lesson.





	

“Alright, that’s enough for today, Finn. You’ve done well,” Kalonia said, “We don’t want you to strain too hard and hurt yourself.”

Finn huffed a sigh and said, through gritted teeth, “I want to keep going.” 

“No,” she said in a gentle voice with a hint of steel behind it, “rest for the remainder of the evening or I’ll be forced to put your back on sedation shifts.” She stood up and began helping Finn transfer back into bed and saw Poe standing in the doorway. “Just the man I wanted to see,” she said softly as she got Finn settled with a bunch of pillows behind him so he could keep sitting up.

Poe could tell that Finn had also noticed he was there but was trying not to make eye contact. 

“Commander,” Kalonia said while striding toward Poe, “a word.”

They shuffled outside of medical into the corridor and Poe pulled the hat Rey had made him back on, shivering. He could see his breath. 

“Poe,” she said, “please see that he gets some rest - he’s a fighter but he’s impatient.” 

He nodded and she started toward her office but turned back around and said, “And if you’ve got a pep talk or some encouragement, he could use that too,” and gave him a little smile. 

“Understood.”

Poe reentered the main medical area and made his way through the equipment and supplies to Finn’s bed, shedding his hat and jacket as he walked. They were keeping this space mercifully several degrees warmer than the corridors or even the main barracks. 

He could see that the doctor hadn’t lied when she said Finn needed encouragement. He had turned onto his side and was curled up in the fetal position. Poe sank into a seat next to the bed and looked into his friend’s face. Finn hastily tried to turn over and winced in pain, then settled for wiping the tears from his cheeks. 

“Hey buddy,” Poe started. 

“This is pointless,” Finn burst out grimly. 

“Why would you say that?” Poe asked without judgment.

“I’m not getting better. Everything is taking so long, and I’m just wasting the Resistance’s resources.”

Poe realized with a flash of anger how expendable stormtroopers were to the First Order - FN-2187 would have never been rehabilitated after an injury. Finn’s brainwashing had never prepared him for the possibility of a struggle back to health or how the Resistance valued his contribution and saw him as being worth saving. 

“We’re besieged, you have time,” Poe reminded him, “All of us are sitting around feeling at least a little bit useless.”

“Was it worth it though? So many people died because of what I did, I -” 

“And countless more would have died if you hadn’t done it.”

Finn carefully, propping himself up on his arm, turned onto his back and hung his head. “Yes, but…”

“But nothing,” Poe said, “I wouldn’t be here, none of us would be here. Starkiller would still be out there, and they still would have destroyed Hosnian Prime. They would have gotten BB and learned of the base on D’Qar and destroyed all of the Resistance too.”

Poe sighed heavily. “Sometimes, even though you don’t know if it will matter, you trust in the Force. You sacrifice and have faith that your actions will matter somehow, that it will all work out - if you know in your heart that it is the right thing to do. Even if you are afraid, if you know it’s the right thing, then it will matter.”

“But what is one stormtrooper defecting going to help against all the millions of them in the First Order? Even with Starkiller gone?” Finn asked in despair. He stared up at the ceiling melodramatically.

“You’ve been using your datapad to study and relearn history, right?” Poe asked, “The history of the Rebellion and the Alliance?

“Yeah,” Finn looked over at Poe, his curiosity piqued. “Why? What has that got to do with it?”

Poe picked up Finn’s datapad. “I’m guessing someone told you to start at the Battle of Yavin.”

“Yeah,” Finn said again, “the Rebels destroyed the Death Star and everyone started to hope they could actually defeat the Empire.”

“Ok, well let me tell you about a footnote in that story,” Poe said. He cleared his throat.

“Think back to how General Organa and Master Skywalker obtained the Death Star plans. The official history only says that ‘Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon,” Poe recited, and then explained, “The story of how those rebels got the plans to the Alliance is mostly forgotten because of what happened after, but my parents passed it on to me. My mother was a pilot and my father was a soldier in the Galactic Civil War.”

Finn was listening intently.

“A team led by rebels Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, along with Andor’s droid K-2S0, and Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus infiltrated an Imperial base on Scarif and transmitted the Death Star plans to a Mon Calamari capital ship. The plans were downloaded and passed to General Organa,” Poe said, “But, the person who put all these events into action by carrying a message about a flaw in the Death Star was an Imperial defector named Bodhi Rook.”

Poe turned Finn’s datapad around to show the Imperial identification photo of a dark-haired pilot. 

“He was a cargo shuttle pilot. When Galen Erso told him he could get right with himself by delivering his message about the Death Star to the Rebellion he did the right thing because he knew it was the right thing. He was able to get the message to Galen’s daughter and flew Rogue One to Scarif.”

“What happened to them?” Finn asked.

“They died. The Empire used the Death Star to destroy the base on Scarif to try to keep them from transmitting the plans.” 

Finn looked at the picture of Bodhi somberly. Then he smiled and looked up at Poe.

“This is why you believed me when I rescued you.” 

Poe nodded. “You did the right thing Finn.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short thing I wrote after seeing Rogue One and thinking, "Wow so the active fight against the Empire started with a defector coming forward feels kind of like Finn defecting to rescue Poe," and then becoming convinced that even though the Rogue One story would be overshadowed by Luke, Leia and Han the rank and file rebel soldiers would know it and pass it on. 
> 
> This is essentially set in the same imagined post-TFA situation I have in my head, and would take place chronologically a little after my story 'Nerf Wool.' These and further writings may go into a series in the future if I write a lot more.


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